Jacksonville lobbying, ‘dark money’ rules under scrutiny with JEA sale in play

Not too many weeks ago, the Jacksonville City Council confirmed Carla Miller to be head ethics officer for three more years.

Miller will be in the role during a pivotal time in Jacksonville history: an exploration of JEA privatization, with a potential sale in the offing that could net the city $3 to $6 billion … and could make those involved in engineering the deal considerably richer as well.

Additionally, there are those who wonder if termed out politicians and lobbyists will be in a position to profit after the fact.

In that context, a meeting of the legislative subcommittee of the Jacksonville Ethics Commission Wednesday afternoon was notable: a discussion of revising the city’s ethics code, which has some provisions going back 40 years … a lifetime in the world of influence peddling and campaign finance.

The timing couldn’t have been better. The JEA Board will workshop the concept. The Jacksonville City Council will have its own special committee on the topic. And, though it’s early in the game, the Florida Times-Union already is pushing for an exploration of the sale.

With all of these different actors, and a process that will be sprawling if it proceeds, an examination of ethics code revisions was in order.

“The biggest issue in the city right now is the potential sale of JEA,” Miller said. “Is our code adequate?”

With city elections looming, there are temptations for blurrings of lines, in this “unique time period where people who are termed out, looking for new things to do … a clump of people coming in … and a multi-billion dollar decision.”

Chair Mary Bland Love noted that the committee has some “self-teaching” to do on code.

“This JEA thing is a way to [see] if the code [suits] a multibillion dollar decision,” Love said, noting the JEA and Council workshops, and other community groups gauging the concept.

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A.G. Gancarski has been a working journalist for over two decades. Gancarski has been a correspondent for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. In 2018, he was a finalist for an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies "best political column." He can be reached at a.g.gancarski@gmail.com.

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